[SOLVED] Need to Format Internal Hard Drives

nickflix

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Sep 8, 2012
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Hi. I have a pile of old internal hard drives that I'd like to format and then either donate or recycle. I own two docking stations, but both are for SATA 2.5 and 3.5mm drives. I'm looking for either a docking station or cords that will allow me to check out what's on them and then format. Being able to click and drag any docs that I'd like to keep off of them would be a plus as well, but I believe I have everything backed up. I can't seem to upload a photo, so here are the models:
Western Digital WD5000AAKB
Hitachi HDT725040VLA360
Western Digital WD 6400AAKS
Thanks very much in advance.
 
Solution
Something like this should do the trick. I've never used on like this but it looks good and good reviews. Supports IDE as well as Sata drives. Connect them to this and you can read them. To wipe them i would recommend DBAN. Its a bootable drive eraser, dont run it on your pc or everything will get wiped. I would run it on an old pc, remove the hard drive and only connect the one you want wiped.

Dban Official site: https://dban.org/

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-UNITEK-Universal-External-Support/dp/B01NAUIA6G/ref=sr_1_4?crid=BAZY4EE1QCW9&keywords=ide+hdd+enclosure&qid=1638455493&sprefix=ide+hdd+,aps,160&sr=8-4

Drew125

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Nov 3, 2014
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Something like this should do the trick. I've never used on like this but it looks good and good reviews. Supports IDE as well as Sata drives. Connect them to this and you can read them. To wipe them i would recommend DBAN. Its a bootable drive eraser, dont run it on your pc or everything will get wiped. I would run it on an old pc, remove the hard drive and only connect the one you want wiped.

Dban Official site: https://dban.org/

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-UNITEK-Universal-External-Support/dp/B01NAUIA6G/ref=sr_1_4?crid=BAZY4EE1QCW9&keywords=ide+hdd+enclosure&qid=1638455493&sprefix=ide+hdd+,aps,160&sr=8-4
 
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Solution
I've used a Rosewill RX301-PU3-35B dock from newegg. About 20 bucks 4 or 5 years ago. They are pretty much a commodity and any should work. I'm not sure, but I don't think you can just use a cable.....I think you need AC power for traditional spinning hard drives and a USB port may not be enough.

I'm assuming all of those drives are standard SATA spinners.
 
To wipe them i would recommend DBAN. Its a bootable drive eraser, dont run it on your pc or everything will get wiped.

Dban Official site: https://dban.org/
Yeah so how would he run it?
A normal full (not quick) format is enough for normal users.

If you are paranoid crapcleaner has a multiple pass wipe feature that you can use.
It takes forever just like a normal full format does just multiple times because it overwrites every single bit of the drive.
 

Drew125

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Nov 3, 2014
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Yeah so how would he run it?
A normal full (not quick) format is enough for normal users.

If you are paranoid crapcleaner has a multiple pass wipe feature that you can use.
It takes forever just like a normal full format does just multiple times because it overwrites every single bit of the drive.

Not true. The format is just a map of the data. Re-formatting destroys the map. The data is still there for the taking. I've managed to recover data after a re-format and windows install. The data is not destroyed until the sector has been physically overwritten. DBAN has an option I don't remember what its called but its 2 passes of random data. If I remember right on a 1 TB drive it takes around 4 hours. If you use the DOD short it goes for 24 hours. Every single sector gets re-written with random data. After that runs no data can be recovered without the assistance of the NSA. Me personally I would not donate or give a drive away without first running that.

Full Format
A full format erases any files from the disk, changes (or maintains) the file system and checks the disk for bad sectors. A full format takes significantly longer than a quick format. Windows supports both FAT and NTFS for both quick and full formats. While a full format deletes files from the drive, it is not a secure solution for removing data; a secure format requires external software


Quoted from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/quick-format-vs-full-format-new-external-hard-drive-79123.html
 
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Yes that's what a full format does, even from the link you posted, that's why it takes so much longer.
It's secure enough for normal people because you would have to use forensic software to even get a few bits of data.
No. Wrong.

Full format removes file table. File data remains and can be recovered.
Long time of full format is attributed to surface check. That's why it is taking so long.